Kicking the Secularist Habit: A six-step program

David Brooks

Like a lot of people these days, I'm a recovering secularist. Until September 11 I
accepted the notion that as the world becomes richer and better educated, it becomes less
religious. Extrapolating from a tiny and unrepresentative sample of humanity (in Western
Europe and parts of North America), this theory holds that as history moves forward,
science displaces dogma and reason replaces unthinking obedience. A region that has not
yet had a reformation and an enlightenment, such as the Arab world, sooner or later
will.

It's now clear that the secularization theory is untrue. The human race does not
necessarily get less religious as it grows richer and better educated. We are living
through one of the great periods of scientific progress and the creation of wealth. At
the same time, we are in the midst of a religious boom.

Islam is surging. Orthodox Judaism is growing among young people, and Israel has
gotten more religious as it has become more affluent. The growth of Christianity
surpasses that of all other faiths.

Moreover, it is the denominations that refuse to adapt to secularism that are growing
the fastest, while those that try to be "modern" and "relevant" are withering.

Secularism is not the future; it is yesterday's incorrect vision of the future.